I'll be sharing with you the best thing that I did in my entire trip in the Philippines
and it was all aboard this gorgeous wooden Sailing Boat and we're going to be sailing
from El Nido on the island of Palawan across the Palawan Strait to the beautiful island
of Quran
there are 20 other people on board from around the world and nine Filipino crew and a trusty
Sea Dog as well this is going to be a really authentic Expedition because not only is the
sailing vessel just very magnificent but we're far away from any signal any Wi-Fi and so
we're all just in this together to enjoy hidden beaches beautiful islands and we'll be stopping
off at incredible camping spots and camps along the way
this company is called Tau Expeditions and it wasn't cheap it cost me 750 US dollars
but it does include all of your drinks all of your meals and all of the campsites every
evening a lot of the people on board have told me that this is the reason that they
came to the Philippines they had heard so much good stuff about Tau Expeditions that
they made an entire trip to the Philippines just to go on board and enjoy the Expedition
so let's begin with the boarding process and I'll give you a highlight and a snippet of
each of the six days and at the end I'll give you my conclusions if it was worth it or not
so after meeting at Taos headquarters we quickly began with the fun boarding process here we
go home for the next week good morning wow look at this we'll do a tour later don't worry
let's get settled
the ballotek is Tau expedition's premium vessel and it is completely made from wood and has
beautiful hand carvings all over the main deck [Music] we were all excited to be on
board and with our first day sailing well underway the group spent the first few hours
getting to know the boats and slowly introducing each other and getting to know the crew and
the trusty Sea Dog the balotix design is a Revival of an almost forgotten Filipino sailing
culture where the sales and the two Outriggers come together to help navigate shallow reefs
the chef wasted no time rustling up a delicious lunch and we were on our way to the first
stop of the expedition foreign
[Music]
a very very interesting experience and I've loved it but you know there's been some difficult
times the entire country is not the same there are parts that test you but if you're looking
for the image of the Philippines in your mind that you see on postcards and on travel Vlogs
then you have to come to Palawan here and who would have thought you could come to somewhere
like this and have it to yourself and just live in a postcard moment I'll remember this
for a long long time this is this is outrageous look at the color of the water the soft sand
[Music] let's breathe it in together
everything is [Music]
[Music]
everything [Music]
so as you can tell we were all soaking in the paradise views and settling into this
newly adopted lifestyle of Simply sailing through and searching the ocean for beautiful
spots where we would Moor up and just explore that local area
[Music]
and after a full day sailing we arrived in the late afternoon to a secluded beach on
a gorgeous Island where we were told our camp would be for the next two nights
foreign
cheers big ears complimentary rum and orange juice no pineapple juice oh that's delicious
if you're wondering by the way oh putty you seem quiet you seem not yourself I'm just
being a little bit standoffish on day one especially with the camera I don't want to
be vlogging people that I don't know um so I'm gonna get you know they've been asking
me about the cameras I've been flying the Drone and so now they all know that I have
a YouTube channel and we'll have a couple of drinks tonight and then I think slowly
throughout this trip I'll open up a little bit more and introduce to some of the other
people on this tour we've now checked in to our little accommodation here and no power
no signal and this is all part of the experience is just good food good company unbelievable
backdrop and a time and a chance to escape the online digital world [Music] this is
[Music]
good morning and uh what what an amazing night sleep I have in the heart and so the sound
of these waves just put me to sleep like that I think I've slept for nine hours and waking
up this morning with the view of the bay with this with the ship more down other guests
going for morning walks there's a girl doing yoga behind me we're gonna have breakfast
we're gonna have coffee and the plan for today is to sail for the whole day find a few spots
find a few places away from all of the other tall boats this time try and find our own
slice of private heaven and then we're actually coming back here to camp and sleep again and
have dinner here again this evening
so it says on the website when you're booking the tour what this trip is for and who this
trip is not for and it says that look if you're squeamish about bugs and being remote away
from signal and away from Power then this Trip's not for you you know the shower is
just a simple hose coming out of that tree there it's not heated but it's not freezing
so it's fine and then they have actually pretty decent toilets and they have soap last night
you know there's no Wi-fi they just put your head down on the pillow and you drift off
and you sleep to the sound of the waves so it's a very relaxing it's a very
good opportunity to sort of switch off another thing that I haven't shown you is the bar
tab situation so every time you order a drink they have three different types of beers on
ice they have gin they have vodka if you can have a gin and tonic you get this bracelet
you see this bracelet and then they scan it using their phone and you have a balance so
before you get on the boat I paid 5 000 pesos and then every drink you have the Ducks from
that balance if you don't spend the balance then they give you the remaining cash when
you finish the trip good morning chef how are you today
look at this awesome bamboo cooking shelf he's giving himself he's got rocks in here
that helps keep the pot over the fire coals what are you making today oh eggplant omelettes
that sounds nice
[Applause]
after a fun evening at camp and a great sleep and a hearty breakfast it was time to swim
aboard and begin day two's Adventures [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] as you can see
the weather was great and we couldn't wait to see where the crew would take us next
[Music]
okay that's that lovely hour and a half sale across the El Nido Bays we've arrived in this
secluded piece of paradise and there's about five or six beaches we could choose between
which one do we want to swim to the one over there has a little that looks like a little
private residence we're not quite sure we flew the drone over there could be a little
beach bar I'm not quite sure and then just in front of us here is actually one of Tau
expedition's campsites we're not using this one at the moment because they're renovating
it but all along these jaggedy Limestone Cliffs there's a reef here so we've pulled up to
do some snorkeling and as we arrived the little turtle came up and got a breath of air so
I think this is going to be a good little spot I think what I want to do just quickly
before we go try and find a turtle is show you the underneath of this boat these are
awesome love how you just get into the water like this
and then
so the platform that we're all hanging out on and eating and having drinks is all made
by bamboo and when we were sailing here like the water does Splash up through so you do
need a wet bag because stuff does doesn't stay dry I think I can stand on it yeah I
can
whoa whoa steady now I don't think I'm gonna be able to do this
yes doesn't this vessel just look incredible love it all right let's go see if we can find
his tail
sadly the turtle didn't show his face again but that didn't matter I didn't mind because
we were just soaking up this beautiful snorkeling site
[Music] as you can imagine being surrounded by these Waters and incredible surroundings
the group was just full of joy and everyone got to go off and do their own thing which
was nice some of the passengers swam to a nearby Beach and just enjoyed that paradise
others carried on snorkeling for the whole hour and a half searching for more fish in
marine life while a few others just stayed on board enjoyed the shade cracked open a
few cold beers just escape the midday Sun
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music] and after visiting a few other snorkeling spots later that day it was soon time for
us to head back to our campsite but this time we would be doing it in style you see it was
time for us to enjoy our first Sunset aboard the ballotek whilst we were out sailing in
the open ocean and trust me when I say that this Sunset was gonna be a special one [Music]
okay this is a part of the expedition that everybody's been looking forward to which
has we've just been sailing out to the open ocean now for like two maybe three hours just
so that we could turn Face the sunset turn the engines off set the sails and sail toward
camp and for the first time on this Expedition we really do feel like we're on a pirate ship
sailing the Seas and I'm gonna risk it I'm gonna get the Drone up and try and give you
guys a perspective so thumbs up for the risk because this this is a moving vehicle and
there's a lot of cables and Hazards but if I can land it back you'll see the results
and just you'll see just how epic this boat looks in this environment
[Music]
[Music] all right [Music] but yes
[Music]
we were just enjoying the sunset and we thought how could life get any better and then they
shouted happy hour which means free rum and punch for everybody [Laughter] and we get
to enjoy that
I do realize that this travel Vlog is ridiculous but this is a ridiculous experience and as
you can tell I highly recommend it
[Music] the afternoon peacefully transitioned into evening and by the time we sailed back
to camp we were navigating through the most stunning moonlit Seas
he had been a day to remember and we couldn't believe that we still had four more days of
this ahead of us
however as you'll see things didn't go completely to plan in the second part of the trip
there's still a lot to unpack and a lot to share about this Expedition but that will
have to wait until part two of our Tower Expedition series
next time on Next Level Adventures thank you we conclude our experience on board the tower
Expedition and I'll share more of these spectacular scenes from our Epic Journey from El Nido
to Quran and I'll be giving you a detailed Lowdown about the entire trip the pros the
cons and my overall experiences from the entire six days at Sea and my four days enjoying
Quran will be in the later episode as well I hope you enjoyed this first slice of the
trip on towel Expeditions and yeah I'll see you in the next one very soon
thank you